Writing Your Book in 2022

One of your new year’s resolutions may have been to start working on a book, or to resume working on a book you started last year or before. But we’re now in February, and resolutions may have started to lose steam.

To gain or regain enthusiasm for your process, this post extends two of my posts from last year, “7 Keys to Writing for Publication,” and “43 Eclectic Resources on Writing/Publishing/Creativity.” While those two posts cover multiple facets of writing, the focus now is purely on writing books. The ideas here are most applicable to nonfiction, but many will work for fiction as well.

The “7 Keys…” post contains an 18 month action plan, which can still be applicable; though let’s put our energy into the 11 months remaining in 2022. The goal may or may not be to have a completed manuscript, much less something actually published by the end of the year. But your goal may be to either start on your book, or to show significant progress by the end of the year.

While it is possible that you will write segments of the book or entire chapters right away, it’s also likely that you will spend the necessary time to organize your material. That includes print and online files, and books and periodicals you own or will obtain that will help with your research and writing. Also consider how material you may have already written, either for your internal files or previously published articles or blog posts, can fit into writing your book. Many public libraries have?extensive print and online sources?to aid in all aspects of writing your book.

Consider what role various intermediaries may play, such as agents, publicists, editors, coauthors, book coaches, consultants, ghostwriters, and teachers.?Another consideration is how your book will ultimately be published in today’s landscape with multiple options: traditional trade publishers, hybrid publishers, university presses, audio versions, and self-publishing.

In my January 19, 2022 post “3 Questions for Joe Byerly and Cassie Crosby about?My Green Notebook: “Know Thyself” Before Changing Jobs,” Cassie relates the following about the coauthoring process, and how it worked for her and Joe: “Our co-writing works well day-to-day because we both understand our strengths and weaknesses in the writing process and our individual roles in getting a concept ready for prime time.”

Wally Bock, in his go-to blog “Wally Bock’s Writing Edge,” addresses this in his February 1, 2022 post?“Better Together: Writing Your Book with a Partner.” Wally discusses the pros and cons of working with partners, and writes “Writing with a partner can be more productive and more fun than working by herself. To make partnering work, you need a compatible partner and an effective process.”

Writing your book is bound to include frustrations. This could mean thinking you aren’t making sufficient progress, leading to doubts you’ll ever get it published, or that anyone would want to read it. There will be moments when you think that your writing is destined for a black hole, not an audience of appreciative readers. That’s why it’s important to draw inspiration from printed material you already own about the writing process, what you have in your own computer files and can find online, and what is available from others through writing groups, conferences or workshops, or talking things over with people who like your writing and want you to succeed.

It’s helpful to make steady, incremental progress. Doing as much research as necessary (without going overboard) will help you understand your topic better, and refine your ideas. It is possible that for a good part of the year, you may be doing more of this work than actual writing. When you have drafts of segments or chapters that you are ready to share, send the material to trusted readers who might be hospitable to your writing, yet willing to provide constructive criticism. Do not get too discouraged by the inevitable negative feedback some people will provide.?

Sometimes it helps to visualize the positive things that will happen once your book is published. When I reached low periods during the writing of my second book,?Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way, I visualized the feeling of giving presentations for my first book,?Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life.?I knew similar events would be held once the new book was published, which helped keep me going through the rough patches.

A parallel track to writing, research, and scoping out potential intermediaries/partners will be strategies for how, when, and where you will develop your platform and promote your book.?This may include what you write during the year in blog posts and articles, or what you convey as a podcast guest or host. That knowledge will be helpful if you ultimately write a book proposal.

There are also formal programs you can tap into for writing your book that will help provide structure and support. In my June 7, 2021 blog post “3 Questions for Emi Makino, Author of?Innovation Makers: How Campus Makerspaces Can Empower Students to Change the World,” I wrote the following: “The book itself exists because of an innovative process: it grew out of a Georgetown University course Emi took (via Zoom) on content entrepreneurship, taught by adjunct professor and serial entrepreneur?Eric Koester. The writing, publication and fundraising (in this case through?Indiegogo) of the book was the whole point of the course.”

Whether or not you are currently working full time or part time, you must find the time to work on the book. You may have other writing commitments that must be juggled while writing your book. The same goes for blog posts and related material that you have scheduled for your own writing. Some of these, plus articles or posts for other publications or websites, can serve as eventual promotional material for your book.

While not focused specifically on writing books, I discussed?Peter Drucker’s methods of time management in my January 31, 2022?Psychology Today?blog post “Time Management the Peter Drucker Way.” I note the following: “Drucker writes in?The Effective Executive: “Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed. The analysis of one’s time, moreover, is the one easily accessible and yet systematic way to analyze one’s work and to think through what really matters in it.”

Finally, accept the fact that there will always be mystery in the writing and publishing process, even for the greatest writers. In drawing on my?December 15, 2021 post?about the excellent blog “Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb,” consider this quote from Michael Blanding, author of?North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar’s Quest to Discover the Truth Behind the Bard’s Work:??“I was surprised to learn just how little we know about Shakespeare and how what we do know about him doesn’t seem to match up with the plays—creating these mysteries that still linger today.”

This post is adapted from my Living in More Than One World blog: https://brucerosenstein.com/writing-your-book-in-2022/